Oh, the Places You'll Go!

By: Dr. Seuss
Review by Marilyn Singh (with excerpts from the book)

Recently I was enjoying a wonderful visit in Springfield, Mass.  One of this city’s claims to fame is being the home of Dr. Seuss.  There is a wonderful series of statues in the quadrangle honouring characters from Dr. Seuss’ books.  There is also a huge statue of a book with excerpts from “Oh the Places You’ll Go”.  It’s been a long time since I read this story.  It was so inspirational that I came home and bought the book.

Why read this book?  It’s fun, unlike some leadership books we know we “should” read. I also think that because it's a children's book ti can access parts of our being that remembers dreaming.

Family, society, school - all have sent most of us messages that can discourage us from dreaming and going for it. We have all had people “put us in our place” and society (especially Canadian society) sends us messages that can temper our dreams.

My son once told me that he wanted to be the best math teacher in the world.  We love hearing those dreams from our kids.  Somehow when we get to adulthood and hear those kinds of dreams we associate them with words like arrogance, unrealistic, proud, etc.  

Celebrate the mountains you have climbed and the ones you want to climb!  Celebrate someone else’s mountain climbing today – let’s change our culture! Read it again…and get inspired!

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